BancorpSouth fills void left by embattled adviser Cavner

Five months after financial adviser Nadia Cavner left BancorpSouth amid felony charges, the Tupelo, Miss.-based financial institution announced the hiring of two advisers working out of Cavner’s former Springfield office.
 
BancorpSouth Wealth Management named Jim Allen as financial adviser and Belinda Mason as investment assistant at the East Sunshine Street branch, according to company news releases.
 
Allen has 16 years of investment experience, with specialization in retirement planning and 401(k) and pension management, according to the release. He is registered to sell series 7, 63 and 65 securities and has his life, health and disability licenses. Mason, who holds series 7 and 63 securities registrations, worked six years in investments and 12 years in the insurance industry, the release said.
 
Allen and Mason are working with Infinix Investments Inc. to offer investment and insurance products, according to the release.
 
In late April, BancorpSouth severed ties with Cavner on the heels of her guilty plea to a felony charge for interstate stalking of her daughter’s ex-boyfriend. The embattled financial adviser, who had managed some $490 million for roughly 1,100 household clients, opened an independent advisory, Nadia Cavner Group, days after leaving BancorpSouth.

Cavner was sentenced in federal court Aug. 26 to five years of probation and six months of home detention. She remains an independent contractor with Iowa-based brokerage group Cambridge Investment Research Inc., and her broker status is listed as active by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. As of Oct. 9, Cavner’s broker report at FINRA.org lists the criminal charge disclosure as “final” and notes the conduct was “unrelated to any financial matters or investment advisory duties.”